I needed a reason to post this photo of my grandson. He is the reason why I get flu vaccines. I really never think too much about what other peoples decisions are about getting vaccines. Either you want to do it or you don't. No big deal because I believe in free choice. But this year, I have been doing a lot of research about this flu vaccine. I learned about the research done in Japan over the last 50 years and the difference it was making in the number of absentees at the public schools. Seems when they lifted the mandating of the flu vaccine with school students the number of flu cases rose. But I am a show me person so I can think of many things that could scu these findings. Tonight, I was looking on a no vaccine site and came across these finding from Yale.

Yale Study Says Vaccinated Mothers Have Healthier Newbornwell, you know - Yale and all - should be legit. Then I read further and saw this statement further down the page. Even before the new findings, which are published Wednesday in Clinical Infectious Diseases, health professionals have recommended flu shots for pregnant women since influenza can lead to miscarriages. Also, pregnancy can make women more susceptible to the flu because of its effect on the immune system.

REALLY, I said and because I was skeptical I searched even further and found what I was looking for confirmed. As I learned at a pregnancy and nutrition class earlier this year, when the core temperature is elevated early in a pregnancy, complications may arise. If you get the flu early in your pregnancy and a fever develops your core temperature can be effected if the fever is extreme. But I can almost hear you saying .... putting that flu vaccine into you can cause problems too. maybe????maybe not. I am sure more honest research is needed by people we can trust. But for now, I'll go with the flu vaccine, plus echinacea, gypsy cold care, osilli, cold calm......

Viral infections - This can be a risk early in pregnancy, especially in the first trimester (three months). Influenza (flu) at this time can cause miscarriage, although it's probably the high fever rather than the virus itself which is to blame. Infections, such as rubella (German measles), can lead to severe damage to the foetus and often end in miscarriage. Most women are tested to see if they've had rubella (and are therefore immune to catching it) when they first see their ob/gyn early in their pregnancy.Chickenpox can also cause fetal abnormalities and miscarriage, although more than 90 per cent of babies born to mothers who catch this infection early in pregnancy aren't affected. Infections much later in pregnancy are more worrying, because the baby may be born with a severe chickenpox infection (pneumonia or encephalitis). However, this complication can be prevented, simply by giving the newborn baby an injection called zoster immune globulin (ZIG).

HOW MUCH MERCURY IS IN THIMEROSAL???I found this blog about how much mercury is truly in thimerosal. I know that at the clinic we take precautions to offer vaccines that are thimerosal free. Any vaccine that is Pre filled or single dose has a much smaller dose of mercury than a multi dose vial. While surfing today I found this site that really put it more into focus. HOW MUCH ANYWAY - check it out.

IMMUNIZE CANADA - concise explanation of thimerosol usage however, in America at least, flu vaccines for children and some adult are typically free of thimerosol.